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Football
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#17 Kansas State
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Iowa State University Athletics
Saturday, September 8
Ames, Iowa
TBA
Iowa State University
45
vs
0
Northern Iowa
Cyclones Overpower Northern Iowa in Season Opener, 45-0
09.08.2001 | Football
AMES, Iowa (AP) - Quarterback Seneca Wallace ran for two touchdowns in his highly anticipated debut and Iowa State intercepted six passes in beating Northern Iowa 45-0 Saturday night.
Iowa State, coming off its first winning season since 1989, answered two major questions in its opener: Wallace proved to be as good as advertised and the young defense looked stronger than expected.
Division I-AA Northern Iowa (1-1) beat Iowa State twice in the early 1990s but was no match for the Cyclones in this one and suffered its worst defeat since a 66-0 loss to Iowa in the 1997 opener.
Wallace arrived with great promise after running and passing for 4,225 yards at Sacramento City College last fall and he delivered. He scrambled 27 yards for a touchdown on his second carry and sprinted 60 yards for a score on an option keeper on his fourth run as Iowa State took a 17-0 first-quarter lead.
For the game, Wallace carried five times for 97 yards and completed 5 of 11 passes for 47 yards. Ennis Haywood, the Big 12's leading rusher last year, had 107 yards in 20 carries, including touchdown runs of 1 and 3 yards.
The Iowa State defense, which has seven new starters, did not surrender a first down until Northern Iowa's sixth possession. The six interceptions, three setting up touchdowns, were the most for the Cyclones since they had a school-record seven against Utah in 1976.
Five of the interceptions came off redshirt freshman Tom Petrie, who was just 8-of-27 for 99 yards and also lost a fumble.
Harold Clewis' interception gave Iowa State the ball at the Northern Iowa 18 late in the first quarter. Three plays later, Haywood took a pitchout from Wallace and trotted into the end zone from the 1.
Mike Wagner scored on a 13-yard run one play after Johnny Smith's interception. Marc Timmons returned an interception to the 15, setting up a 1-yard touchdown run by Joe Woodley that made it 38-0 at halftime.
Northern Iowa got into immediate trouble when punter Derrick Frost bobbled the snap on the first series and shanked a 6-yard kick. That led to Tony Yelk's 47-yard field goal.
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